There has also been a concentrated effort from bear hounders/anti-wolf elements to harass and threaten wildlife advocates on OUR own pages. Some of the people doing the harassing and attempted intimidation are the very same people who testified at last Wednesday’s hearing telling the committee they were “terrified” and were being “harassed” by wildlife advocates. This includes a former warden for the Wisconsin DNR according to several wildlife advocates.

The Internet and social media in particular has become a bullying platform and propaganda outlet for the anti-wolf pseudo-tough guys, mostly from rural areas, to use against wildlife advocates and to spread racist and hateful rhetoric against people such as Native Americans.

During and following the 2012, 2013, and 2014 Wisconsin wolf slaughter seasons wolf killers and their allies took to the Internet to post bragging pictures of dead wolves and often proceeded to taunt wildlife advocates knowing the emotions such bloody images would generate. Much like the manner in which the unethical “hunters” bait in bear, wolves, and other wildlife, they often posted these vile snuff pics to bait wildlife advocates and prey on our emotions. The problem came when they made attempts to email wildlife advocates taunting emails showing dead and mutilated wolves, coyotes, and other wildlife or post them on pro-wildlife pages and hope for a response.

Like most right-wing internet trolls the anti-wolf/wildlife and racist trolls on these hate pages thrive off of us responding with emotion. Then they can say “See they are nothing more than overly emotional hippies” or some other insulting nonsense. Think about the source of most of these inflammatory posts and comments. These are scared little men, and some women, whose lives revolve around killing animals and harboring hatred for anything or anyone that does not conform to their isolated little worlds. First they blame something like wolves for every failure in their pathetic lives because they are an easy and long demonized target. Then when wolves aren’t convenient enough of a scapegoat they turn to other long demonized groups like Native Americans, African Americans, or immigrants.

It used to be that these people were relegated to their rural hate filled enclaves and thankfully the rest of the world didn’t have to listen to their hateful screeds. Today with the Internet the entire world is an audience for their hate filled, ignorant, and often racist drivel. They tend to thrive on being acknowledged and like the insolent overgrown children most of these anti-wolf/ racist people truly are, they throw a tantrum when ignored. They try to hijack pro-wildlife web pages and the comment sections of news stories about wildlife or people such as Native Americans.

I have long refused to engage in back and forth banter with these hateful internet trolls. They seek acknowledgement and when ignored they often spiral into their hateful temper tantrums and try to hijack a dialogue. Simply put wildlife advocates need to just ignore, block, or report the hateful screeds that emirate from these people. The worst of these trolls sit in their isolated rural enclaves and spread their vile and hate filled drivel, threats, and attempts at intimidation knowing if they acted in real life toward people as they do on the Internet there would be a very different result.

We also saw this on full display during and after Florida’s recent bear slaughter when trolls and self-described “conservationists” took to Facebook and news article comment sections to laugh about bear cubs being left to starve following the slaughter in which 300 bears were killed in less than two days. What does it say about these people when they celebrate the mass slaughter of a species and then make snide comments and finding humor in the starvation of bear cubs? The same thing occurred following the mass slaughter of wolves in Wisconsin in 2012, 2013, and 2014. Today following the resisting by a federal judge in December 2014 the taunts and bragging of poaching have replaced the taunts following “legal” kills in the past three years among many on these hate sites. What does it say about people who take pleasure in the suffering of another species and the starvation of their offspring? I would bet most if not all of these internet tough guys also consider themselves “pro-life” as well?

What I also find quite ironic is how many of the anti-wolf/wildlife/racist trolls write rambling posts about how Native Americans are “lazy drunks” that kill all he wildlife. The irony comes in with a simple gander at the Wisconsin Circuit Court Access System showing how so many of these people have drunken driving convictions, hunting violations, criminal convictions, tax evasion, foreclosure, and civil process for not paying their bills. To be fair, I am sure many wildlife advocates share the same types of incidents but they also don’t claim a racial or cultural superiority so blatantly as the anti-wolf/wildlife/racist trolls do. There are also idiot “wildlife advocates” that engage in threats and attempted intimidation. They should be ostracized in the same manner and have no place in our movement.

Now comes the revolting part. All of the above and below screenshots were forwarded to me and I am going to let them speak for themselves. I would gather from the openly hostile and frankly terroristic tone of these comments that those making the comments do not understand that the hate site they posted it to is viewable to the entire world. Oops.

There you have it. The true face of these folks that pretend that they are “conservationists” that pretend that wildlife advocates are the “emotional” ones. Scalping? Going back to “cowboys and Indians?” Roadblocks with AR-15s?

Most of the time I just blow off the ignorant drivel posted on that page. This is different. The fans of that page and by default those that run it are allowing open and pretty specific terroristic threats against Native Americans. I and other wildlife advocates have long known that there is a strong racist and anti-governmental element to the anti-wolf factions but this more than shows what their true motivations are. This goes far beyond the typical anti-wolf trolling and screeds encouraging poaching. This crosses into terroristic threats against those of a particular ethnicity and frankly it is revolting. Perhaps the federal authorities may be interested in this? Civil Rights groups? This makes me sick and every decent American citizen should feel the same way, hunter or not.

The bill’s chief Assembly sponsor, Rep. Adam Jarchow, R-Balsam Lake, told that chamber’s committee that he’s heard horrible stories about activists making noise while standing in front of bait piles and under tree stands in the hopes of ruining hunts. He said activists have berated hunters online, but he didn’t cite any instances in which activists were convicted of committing violent acts against hunters.

He didn’t cite any instances because there are none. I would also question the wisdom of the bringing about hunters being “berated” online when any wildlife advocate can tell you that the opposite is true. Glass houses……stones……. Just since Wednesday wildlife advocates have been reporting to myself and others that Wisconsin and Michigan bear hounders have been attempting to troll and hijack the comment thread of their pages with threats and harassment. This page in particular has been targeted by anti-wildlife elements and trolls. The thing is that no one else sees their threats, propaganda, and insults here because that is what a spam folder is for. So who are really those being “berated” online? If hounders and anti-wildlife folks are so sure that they are “right” and “ethical” why do they feel the need to troll pro-wildlife pages and try to threaten or “convince” us that they are correct? If they are so sure that their “sport” is “ethical” and “fair chase” then they have nothing to worry about from a few tree huggers like myself, right?

But back to the hearing for the 2015 Anti-Free Speech Act “Right to Hunt” bill.

Throughout the hearing camo-clad bear hounders, their lobbyists, and their allies cried and whined about how they felt “scared” and “threatened” by the presence of animal-welfare advocates. In between the tearjerking screeds about the sheer terror that the presence of “tree huggers” with cameras bring them comments were even made by a representative of one hounder/anti-wolf group stating that “bird watchers” should be required to have permits to use PUBLIC lands and watch wildlife. The irony in this is that the ones this sham of a bill were written for, hounders and baiters, do not even need a permit of any sort to dump their FIVE MILLION GALLONS of bait on public land or allow their thousands of hounds to run free on that very same land. One hounder that testified even went so far as to say that if wolves have the “right” to be predators and kill other animals that hounds trained to do the same thing should also have that same “right.” So in a roundabout way did this hounder say that he believes animals should have rights? Quite the irony there isn’t it?

The hounders know that their sadistic “sport” is under threat each and every time someone unfamiliar with their practices see what it really entails. In what sane world is it acceptable for MILLIONS of gallons of stale junk food and other “bait” to be dumped all over PUBLIC land to condition wildlife to human food? In what sane world is this practice allowed for SIX MONTHS? In what sane world are thousands of dogs, that are trained to KILL, allowed to be let loose to ravage wildlife on our PUBLIC lands with ZERO oversight or permit required? Each and every time a member of the general public sees what these people are allowed to get away with in the woods with their non-stop harassment of wildlife, conditioning of wildlife, legalized animal fighting, poaching, and a myriad of other behaviors they are disgusted. The hounders, baiters, and trappers do not want you or anyone else to see this. They don’t want you to see a pack of dogs ripping apart a bear cub, coyote, wolf, bobcat, or any other animal that gets in their way. They don’t want you to see them dumping stale junk food all over our public lands for months and then sitting in a tree waiting to blast a bear conditioned by the food. They don’t want you to see them walk up to a trapped animal stomp, drown, smother, or shoot it while laughing all the while. That is the REAL “fear” these people have. Not the big scary tree huggers and their cameras. It is what those cameras depict that they are afraid of you seeing.

More Anti-Wolf Fear Mongering and Propaganda

There is a war on wolves and their supporters in Wisconsin. Fear mongering, propaganda, flat out misinformation, and lies are being ramped up and spread through various media outlets and the wildlife killing pages.

Things are taking a new low among one particular kill everything site that is going to rabid anti-wolf individuals and taking their falsehoods and over exaggerations at face value. According to this “article” wolves are responsible for one business “losing 95 percent” of their customers and people from “the city” are terrified to walk outside because the big bad wolf is going to eat them. I am not joking. From the “article:”

The impact of wolf depredation of deer on the economy in northern Wisconsin shows up in conversations with local business owners. Resort owners Cathy and Bob Weinkauf, of Deadhorse Lodge in Mercer, no longer depend on deer hunters to help sustain their business.

In business for 34 years, Cathy Weinkauf claims the lodge has lost 95 percent of its deer-hunting customers.

“We have a lot of people from the city that walk the roads,” she said. “It’s a concern that the wolves are out there. It’s not a good situation.

“We feel like there isn’t much we can do,” she said. “They look at the people who really want wolves, and they get their way. They don’t look at the business aspect of it. We’ve lost up to $20,000 a year now that we don’t have any deer here anymore.”

Ah yes. The big bad wolf is “eatin’ all the deer” and are going to eat folks from “the city.” The only thing missing is the fear of grandchildren wearing red hoods being eaten by wolves on the way to grandmother’s house. Maybe this place should change it’s name to “Dead Wolf Lodge” to attract the clientele they really seek?

The article gets even more absurd when a former Wisconsin DNR warden, hounder, and member of numerous anti-wolf groups, uses all kinds of propaganda and barstool biology to spread falsehoods and typical anti-wolf misinformation. It should be mentioned that this party was also in attendance and spoke in support of Rep. Adam Jarchow’s bill that outlaws free speech and gives hounders and baiters total control over OUR public lands. Mr. Quaintance even goes as far as to not so subtly threaten poaching by his fellow anti-wolf types.

Retired DNR warden and Bayfield County resident Pat Quaintance said wolves need to be managed by the state. He is president of the Wisconsin Association of Sporting Dogs, consisting of more than 300 members around the state. He also serves on the Wisconsin Wildlife Federation board of directors.

“There are lots of wolves,” Quaintance said.

He said there are at least six packs from Ashland north to Red Cliff and extending west to Hwy. A at Iron River and up to Port Wing.

“When it gets out of control, people start whacking them,” he said. “When the numbers were down to 350 (an oft-cited goal for biological and social carrying capacity), we didn’t have all of these problems.

Shock, a hounder, wolf hater, member of several anti-wolf groups, and proponent of making free speech illegal, that wants to kill off wolves to a token number. I am truly shocked. The “barstool biology” on display here is not only complete and total misinformation but also offensive. The Wisconsin DNR is as anti-wolf of an agency as one can be yet they even make very clear that the alleged “decline” in deer numbers has next to nothing to do with wolves or other predation. Funny one could almost gather that this “retired” DNR warden is advocating the poaching of a federally protected species with his “whacking them” comment.

It’s no secret that people like Quaintance are involved in anti-wolf propaganda and are in support of criminalizing the free speech of their enemies by supporting Jarchow’s bill. It’s the same voices over and over and over when it comes to the fear mongering and anti-wolf propaganda. Because they yell louder than everyone else they should have more power and influence? That is what they apparently believe. They cry how they are afraid of animal welfare advocates with cameras one day and the next cry how afraid they are of the big bad wolf then the next day cry about how they are afraid that their “hunting heritage” is going to be taken away. These people sure are “afraid” of a lot of things, aren’t they? You would think that with all that camo they wear and the guns they tote around they would feel invincible. I guess not. They must only feel big and bad when letting their dogs rip apart another animal or when are killing an animal in a trap.

It’s also quite funny how when whining to politicians and the media they pretend that they are blameless victims that are being harassed by those evil wolf/wildlife advocates. Then when on social media, or when trolling pro-wildlife pages, they turn around and berate animal welfare advocates for being “hippie tree huggers” or “weak” because they don’t get off on killing wolves and other wildlife. People need to wake up to the duplicity that the hounders and their allies are perpetrating here. They want you to see them as “persecuted victims” in “fear” for their lives while on social media and in news story comment sections they berate and bully anyone questioning their “sport” or killing techniques. Enough.

The simple fact is that hounding, baiting, trapping, and a myriad of other killing practices are things that if the general public actually saw in practice they would call for a ban overnight. The hounders, baiters, and trappers know this and they don’t want you to see what they do and will stomp on your constitutional rights to make sure that you don’t. Then they will demonize a species like the wolf and make them the scapegoat for all the failure in their lives.

The reality is that wolves do eat deer. Wolves do kill marauding hunting hounds and wolves will occasionally kill unattended livestock. Wolves are predators. They kill to eat and will kill other canines that aggressively intrude on where THEY live. Wildlife advocates do not dispute that. What we do dispute are the lies, propaganda, and flat out misinformation that attempt to make this species out to be the root of every single problem in rural areas and be the blame the for life failures among hounders and their ilk. Wolves are NOT “eatin’ all the deer.” Wolves are NOT “stalking” the great white hunters or grandchildren at bus stops. Allowing thousands of hounds to run rampant on public land and through known wolf habitat does not make for “victims.” It makes for the persecution complex of a bunch of selfish, greedy, arrogant, and fearful people that believe they OWN our public lands. They do not. I and every single other citizen of this country have just as much of a right to hike, stand, pick our noses, or photograph whatever we feel like on PUBLIC lands. Those big bad wolves on PUBLIC land also have just as much “value” to me ALIVE as they do for the hounders dead. Why are their wants and selfish desires more important than those of the rest of us?

The hounders are no more “victims” than wolves are the marauding killers that their enemies portray them to be. The reality is that with Wednesday’s hearing and propaganda articles like the one from “Outdoor Hub” we are seeing a temper tantrum from a group of people that know their “sport” is under scrutiny and know it’s days are numbered. They may have big money lobbyists and legislators in their pocket today but tomorrow will be a different story. Sooner or later the general public will see activities like hounding, baiting, and trapping for what they really are: a sick and sadistic activity to satiate the blood lust of a few greedy and fearful people who could not survive without their “victim” complex being used to it’s full advantage to get their way. That isn’t going to last forever either.

Normally I am highly critical of the killing propaganda done by Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, “outdoor writer” Paul Smith, but he deserves credit for bringing this to the public despite the Wisconsin DNR and USFWS apparently trying to keep it secret for as long as possible.

A September incident in Adams County in which a man said he was approached by three wolves was not an “attack,” according to an investigation by federal and state law enforcement officials.

However, efforts are underway to trap and kill wolves at the public property where the incident took place.

The trapping was initiated after Department of Natural Resources managers determined that wolves at Colburn Wildlife Area presented a risk to visitors, said Dave MacFarland, DNR large carnivore specialist.

A provision of the Endangered Species Act allows lethal removal of “specimens which pose a demonstrable but non-immediate threat to human safety.”

The decision was made after consultation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, MacFarland said.

“We’ve used (trapping and lethal removal) before in compliance with our public safety response protocol,” MacFarland said. “This one is getting more attention.”

The trapping began Oct. 16; it is being conducted by agents with the Wildlife Services division of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Despite acknowledging that the alleged encounter with the “hunter” was not an “attack” the Wisconsin DNR and USFWS have decided to eradicate wolves in this WILDLIFE AREA. If wolves cannot live in areas designated for wildlife then where can they live? The reality is that wolf hating states like Wisconsin and others will allow no more than a token population and will use any excuse to kill them in conjunction with the anti-wolf USFWS.

The trapping initiative falls in the wake of a Sept. 23 incident at Colburn, a 4,965-acre public property.

Matthew Nellessen, 34, of Friendship was traveling alone on foot and scouting for a deer-hunting spot when he said he was attacked by three wolves.

According to Nellessen’s account, he shot and wounded one of the wolves with his .38-caliber pistol.

He reported the incident to the DNR. State and federal law enforcement officers accompanied Nellessen to the spot of the incident the following day.

A short blood trail was found, but no wolf, said Todd Schaller, DNR chief warden.

Nellessen was not charged for his actions.

“Through a joint investigation of the USFWS and DNR, and information we were able to obtain through the USFWS interview, there will be no law enforcement action taken (against Nellessen),” said Schaller.

The Wisconsin DNR and other anti-wolf government agencies and killing cartels have been looking for ways to continue the eradication tactics they adopted since 2012 following the December 2014 re-listing. It looks like they found their tactic. It looks like they found it. Just as I wrote about in the last blog post when a great white hunter merely sees a wolf it becomes a call for eradication. This ONE non-“attack” and the response to eradicate a wolf population in a WILDLIFE AREA opens the door for every single anti-wolf element in the state to claim other non-“attacks” and then the WI DNR and USFWS will come in with traps and guns blazing. This is shameful but unfortunately a common practice used by anti-wolf states to keep the populations isolated to small pockets and prevent them from migrating. We see this also in Wyoming, where they have been practicing an “under the radar” eradication, Minnesota, where keeping wolves in one area is written into their “management plan,” and in Wisconsin where anti-wolf groups like the Wisconsin Bear Hunters Association, SCI, and the Wisconsin Wildlife Federation seek to have open eradication in the Southern two-thirds of the state (Laurie Groskopf sits on the board of both groups).

Mark my words. Now that the WI DNR and USFWS are doing this eradication based on a highly dubious non-“attack” we will be seeing these tactics deployed over and over again to get rid of wolves all over the state to appease the anti-wolf killing cartels like the Wisconsin Bear Hunters Association.

Adams County, toward the southern end of Wisconsin’s wolf range, has had two wolf packs since at least 2010, according to DNR reports.

MacFarland said the Adams County wolves have not caused problems in the past.

As a result of Nellessen’s encounter, however, the DNR added a notation to its 2015 list of wolf depredations and other incidents. The Oct. 1 update includes a check mark in Adams County for a “non-livestock threat.”

Two confirmed cases of wolf depredations on livestock have occurred this year in the southern half of Wisconsin, one each in Columbia and Crawford counties.

Nellessen’s incident and the agencies’ handling of it have drawn added attention because, if confirmed, it would have been the first verified wolf attack on a human in Wisconsin.

Since their investigation and interviews found no physical contact with the wolves and no injury to Nellessen, law enforcement officials did not classify it as an attack.

“It can become a semantic argument,” MacFarland said. “No matter how it’s described, it’s a case where the department is following its protocol following a threat to human safety.”

MacFarland said the trapping effort is being evaluated daily and results will dictate how long it continues.

They even admit that it’s not an “attack” yet the wolves have to die anyway?

As I have stated before it’s quite amazing that the only people ever “attacked” or “threatened” by wolves are great white hunters and others that already hate the species. Why don’t we hear about hikers having non-“attacks” or being “threatened?” I and other wildlife advocates can see right through the game being played by anti-wolf government agencies and the killing cartels that pull their strings. They are frustrated at the fact Congress hasn’t yet been able to strip protections from wolves in the Great Lakes and Wyoming so they are coming up with alternate near-eradication and harassment plans to keep wolves at bare minimum numbers without attracting too much attention to their real motives. They use fragile excuses like “threats to human safety” and “livestock depredation” to continue with their eradication policies.

Following decades of massive deer overpopulation and the non-stop deer killing seasons the deer population in Wisconsin appears to finally be reaching a reasonable level that the ecosystem can support. Unfortunately that’s not good enough for the great white hunters in Wisconsin and the DNR. Brutal winters, endless killing seasons, vehicle crashes, and disease have allegedly brought deer numbers down slightly over the past decade and of course the great white hunters blame the few hundred wolves in the state despite facts to the contrary. Add in the constant whining by the bear hounders and it’s obvious what the endgame of the puppet Wisconsin DNR is. Wolves will pay the price despite the DNR themselves admitting through their own studies that wolf predation on deer (you know, their natural diet) is minuscule at best. Despite that fact wolves will be pushed to near eradication in spite of their current ESA protections through the use of the loophole that says killing can occur to “specimens which pose a demonstrable but non-immediate threat to human safety.”

Mark my words this will be the first of many secret eradication operations to be carried out by the Wisconsin DNR and USFWS based on no-“attacks” and “threats” to great white hunters. This is their way to keep their near eradication policies in place while wolves are still under ESA protections.

Please contact the Wisconsin DNR and USFWS to express your outrage at this eradication operation and the fact there was no action taken in what they admit wasn’t an “attack.” If anymore evidence was needed to see the true intentions of the Wisconsin DNR and the Dan Ashe run USFWS to bring wolves back to the brink this is all one needs. If they can thumb their noses at the federal judge and ESA and use loopholes to continue their anti-wolf tactics what is the point of even having and ESA if a “protected” species can be killed just for being seen?

This species means as much ALIVE to us as it does dead to a tiny minority. It’s time we make that very clear.

Let’s say that a serial rapist got caught committing dozens of sexual assaults over the span of a few years. While being interrogated by the police the rapist attempts to rationalize what he did by saying that he wore a condom while raping each of his victims because he “cares about women.” Then he tries to say that because he donates money to Planned Parenthood he should be excused for the rapes because, of course, he “cares about women.”

Sounds absurd doesn’t it? So why is it any different when wildlife killers use the exact same ridiculous types of justifications and arguments when taking about “conservation” and other ridiculous “barstool biology” nonsense?

Killing cartels and those that derive pleasure from killing wildlife like to use arguments similar to the example that I used above. They claim that they “pay for conservation” when buying a killing license because they “care about wildlife.” Then just like the above example they also claim that they donate money to killing front groups like “Ducks Unlimited” or the deceptively named hunting group, the Wisconsin Wildlife Federation, because they “care about wildlife.” Then they also brag about planting “food plots” and spreading bait to “help” feed animals because they “care about wildlife.”

The reality is that most who derive pleasure from killing animals don’t give money or plant “food plots” for the sake of the animals. They give money to these groups and pay their license fees to make sure there are enough wildlife for them to kill. They bait and plant “food plots” to draw in and condition the animal that they want for an easy kill. They also act like because they have a monopoly on the “funding” for “fish and game” departments like the Wisconsin DNR they get to control what is allowed to live and what they can kill. This twisted “fox in the hen-house” mindset is part of why so many species are on the brink and others are far over natural capacity.

Nowhere is this more evident than with the killing cartels, their membership, and “outdoor writers,” constantly whining about how there is an alleged “lack of deer” while also bragging about the number of kill tags that they possess and the “trophy buck” that they are after. While bragging about the abundance of killing tags they usually go on and decry protections for predators like wolves, bears, and coyotes because they blame them for the alleged “lack of deer” in the killing fields. Here is one example of an “outdoor writer” using “barstool biology” as fact:

There are numerous reasons for the decline in numbers of deer. It is a multi-complex situation with ample blame to be shared. We have high numbers of predators from bears, coyotes and wolves. Further complicating this situation a Federal Judge has returned the wolf to endangered status therefore ending any hunting of wolves.

Wisconsin has a long tradition of being an excellent deer hunting state but when one looks at the numbers of deer killed by hunters in Wisconsin it is necessary to consider that we have a high deer population in the farming areas of the lower two-thirds of the state and across the northern one-third the numbers are lower.

Due to open seasons, market hunting and loss of habitat America’s whitetail populations plummeted in the late 1800’s. Thanks to sportsmen this carnage ended and the numbers of deer increased. The question is will we have to go through a rebuilding program again.

The “sportsmen” were responsible for this “carnage” and then they want credit for “allowing” numbers to rise again? Ask the passenger pigeon how well that worked. Oh wait, you can’t because the great white hunters killed them ALL off. But it’s not the endless kill tags and hundreds of thousands of deer killed throughout the year that is responsible for the alleged “low deer numbers” apparently. It is, according to “outdoor writer” Roger Sabota, wolves and Native Americans:

In another ruling a Federal Court Judge apparently does not believe how serious the deer population situation is. This Judge ruled that the Native Americans may now shoot deer after dark. This may take place between November 1 and late December. That is a blow that our Northern Wisconsin deer herd did not need.

Ah yes. It’s also the fault of Native American tribes conspiring with their brother, the gray wolf, to kill off Wisconsin’s deer herd. Barstool biology at it’s finest but it gets even worse.

I expect this kind of mindless propaganda and whining from the anti-wolf factions and the killing cartels but it is quite maddening when it comes from elected officials in mind numbing “opinion pieces” printed in newspapers.

What follows below is the most absurd piece of propaganda and hypocritical double speak that I have seen published on the “wolf issue” from a politician. It’s not only the disingenuous fear mongering that makes me furious when reading this “opinion piece,” it is also the arrogance and blatant hypocrisy on display. This was written by a Minnesota State Representative in the Brainerd Dispatch:

The Thursday, Oct. 15, hunt started like numerous other Camp Ripley bow hunts have in the past. The hunt can be a bit of a zoo with cars lined up for nearly a mile and over 1,000 hunters milling about. But once you enter into the “open hunting areas” hunters have a great opportunity to bag the buck of a lifetime or to simply enjoy a great experience with the bonus of providing a food resource to his or her family.

Little did I know, this year’s experience was going to be different than any other. My hunting partner walked in first while I waited about a half hour to make my way down a tank trail into an area that our group has traditionally hunted just north of Casino Road and the gravel pit. I wasn’t 50 yards into the woods when I saw movement coming directly towards me.

It was a wolf. My first thought was to simply get a photo, my next was common sense kicking in – acknowledging I was still on the ground and without a firearm, as Camp Ripley prohibits hunters from carrying one. I attached my stand as quickly as possible and made my way up the tree. This proved to be the right move because it wasn’t more than just a few minutes until more wolves began coming into and leaving the area. Never side by side but often one would come ahead of me and another one would come in following the wind behind me.

As I share this story with folks, some have said the wolves were simply “curious,” others said that they were “indifferent to my presence” and “what a great experience.” However, as a hunter who happens to be a state representative, I can’t help but think about the effect a growing wolf population has on our area.

Last January, U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell, in Washington, D.C., ordered the federal government to reinstate federal endangered species protection to gray wolves in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan. This decision brought an immediate halt to wolf hunting in Minnesota, limiting the ability of farmers and other citizens to protect their property and, for Minnesota, to responsibly manage wolves in order to preserve the viability of other wildlife.

On that Thursday morning, I came to Camp Ripley to hunt deer and unless the people of central Minnesota would like a wolf habitat created here, something is wrong. Regardless of how people feel about wolves, if things continue as they are you won’t even have a wolf habitat, it will simply be a dead zone.

Simply put, Minnesota deserves the ability to control its own wolf population, just like Montana, Idaho, Alaska and other states, without interference from a district court judge in D.C.

This is a controversial issue and I’m sure I will draw fire from those who view wolves as simply a majestic beautiful creature that deserves a place here in Minnesota. I agree that they have their place but like any other predator, an effective plan is critical to maintain balance, prevent the loss of pets and livestock and preserve our hunting tradition.

Josh Heintzeman, R-Nisswa, represents District 10A in the Minnesota House of Representatives.

Apparently there is such a large number of deer at this military installation that they have allowed over a thousand great white hunters in to kill them. In among all the usual propaganda and personal “justifications” for killing the deer, makes it very clear what his real objective is. It’s to kill that “trophy buck.”

Next we have the an amazing story of survival and how this great white hunter just managed to escape the jaws of a marauding pack of wolves that just kept increasing in number as he stood there. Funny how these “attacks” or near “attacks” only seem to happen to the great white hunters and those that hate wolves. Why do we never hear of hikers having to fight off these mass hoards of man-eating wolves? I must be doing something wrong because I have hiked all over wolf habitat in Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and I haven’t even seen or heard a wolf. In fact the only sign I have even seen were some scat that may or may not have been from a wolf but somehow the great white hunters always are just seconds from death and amazingly “escape” without a scratch on them. Now of course because this great white hunter allegedly saw a wolf or two the world is ending and the hordes of man-eating wolves are going to kill you, your pets, your livestock, and especially your grandchildren. Much like the locust of biblical plagues these man-eating wolves are going to turn an area that has so many deer a special culling by the great white hunters is needed, into a “dead zone.” At least that is what is going to happen according to this guy and other anti-wolf factions against all common sense and scientific fact.

Among the rest of the drivel in this piece this line about the area becoming a “dead zone” is not only infuriating but it is also offensive. Because some right-wing politician/great white hunter allegedly sees a wolf or two the area is going to turn into a “dead zone?” Funny how that works. There are so many deer that this military installation “needed” the great white hunters to come in and likely kill hundreds of them with wolves already present and it’s the wolves that are going to turn Camp Ripley into a “dead zone?” This kind of disingenuous garbage is exactly why wolves should NEVER be returned to state “management” and why the judge relisted then in the first place. When disingenuous politicians pretend that because they allegedly see more than one wolf a “calamity” is about to occur and they must be killed off is EXACTLY why states should never again regain “management” of this or any endangered species.

I for one am sick and tired of wolves, Native Americans, and other convenient scapegoats being blamed for an alleged “lack of deer.” Deer in Wisconsin and elsewhere have been subjected to year round unlimited kill tags, bow seasons, gun seasons, ag killing, etc. and they wonder why the numbers have finally come down “close” to where they should be? Wolves make an easy scapegoat when one refuses to look in a mirror and see the bushy faced, camo hat clad person looking back at them that is really responsible for the alleged “lack” of deer.

Please tell Rep. Heintzeman to stop spreading this kind of propaganda and misinformation about wolves.

Its time for the great white hunters to admit that their “sport” isn’t about any of the justifications or excuses for why they do what they do. It’s all about KILLING more, more, and more and NOTHING better get in the way of that, especially nature itself. No matter how many or what type justifications bloodsport enthusiasts use, it all comes down to the KILLING and that can no longer be justified with fake platitudes and pretending to “care about wildlife.”

The next blog post will be about Florida’s reckless bear slaughter and how it parallels Wisconsin’s wolf slaughter.

One of the more perplexing things in our twisted and sick society is the fact that hunters, hounders, and trappers seem to have some kind of built in immunity from the illegal acts that so many perpetrate. In Wisconsin alone hounders, baiters, and trappers seem to be protected at all levels of government and have a disgusting element of entitlement that is highly disturbing.

Then we have the bill that mandates the requirement to wear back tags for Wisconsin hunters be removed. Why is this requirement such a bad thing? Who exactly does the back tag “hurt” other than poachers and those breaking the law by trespassing? The answer is obvious when we look at who the prime sponsor of the bill is along with the groups lobbying for it.

Why would Kleefisch be so against back tags and work so hard to provide cover for lawbreakers? Gee I wonder……

State of Wisconsin vs. Joel M Kleefisch

Waukesha County Case Number 2013FO000038

The defendant Joel M Kleefisch was found guilty of the following charge(s) in this case.Fail/Register Deer or Bear in Unit of Kill. This is not a criminal offense and results only in a money penalty for this offense.

If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck…..Joel Kleefisch will likely be there to kill it.

Please contact your legislators and ask them not to support any of these absurd proposals.

Wisconsin’s Killing Obsession

There is this sick obsession and belief among many in Wisconsin that in order to “enjoy” the outdoors a person has to kill something. Nowhere is this attitude more prevalent than in the killing obsessed columns of “outdoors” writers like our old “friend” Patrick Durkin. People like Durkin, Rep. Adam Jarchow (R-WBHA), and Rep. Joel Kleefisch, have this mindset that “video games” and technology are behind the fact that less and less people taking up the killing “sports.” From Durkin’s latest kill shill article:

No, this effort will require new ways to make hunting more accessible to “millennials,” people born between 1980 and 2000. Warnke, the DNR’s “Learn to Hunt” coordinator, said millennials became the largest age group in Wisconsin’s deer-hunting population when they passed baby boomers in 2011.

“Millennials are now our society’s largest group, but they don’t participate in hunting at the same rates as baby boomers,” Warnke said. “Meanwhile, the boomers are aging and dropping out of the hunting population. Their losses wouldn’t be so noticeable if more millennials started hunting. In business terms, the hunting community leaves a lot of money on the table by not engaging more millennials.”

Then Warnke makes a ridiculous comparison to the change from film photography to digital photography.

Warnke said millennials represent a great opportunity for hunting, much as digital cameras once did for Kodak.

“People forget that the driving force in digital photography was a Kodak employee who Kodak ignored,” Warnke said. “Kodak didn’t embrace change, and look what happened to it. We can’t afford to ignore millennials, especially when so many of them are open to hunting, including females.”

Talk about the pot calling the kettle black about embracing change. Where is there anything saying that an animal has to be killed for people to enjoy the outdoors? Maybe if the DNR tried to get more people involved with outdoor activities like photography and hiking instead of killing people would be apt to be more involved in the outdoors and funding “conservation” programs. But that is not the Wisconsin way, is it? In Wisconsin it’s all about killing, killing, and killing some more. How about putting less emphasis on the killing “sports” and more on actually getting people outdoors to enjoy nature without guns, bows, dogs, traps and, bait? Maybe fewer and fewer people are participating in the killing “sports” because they just don’t get off on killing animals like past generations did? The DNR just doesn’t get that of course and never will as long as the sale of killing licenses fund most of their agency. They believe that instead of getting non-hunting interests involved and promoted that they must instead indoctrinate women and children into the killing “sports.”

I have never, nor will I ever understand the obsession with killing in this state. Is it any wonder that we are known as much for being home to notorious serial killers as much as we are for anything else? Let’s protect poachers and trespassers while criminalizing free speech. Let’s indoctrinate women and children into killing to keep the $$$$ flowing to the DNR and the killing cartels in control. Says a lot about Wisconsin, doesn’t it?

As I wrote about yesterday the Wisconsin Bear Hunters Association (WBHA) and their allies are not content just controlling our legislature, courts, DNR,governorship and every other element of state government. They are now, with the help of their members/allies in the legislature, orchestrating a complete and total takeover of our public lands and the First Amendment rights of non-hunter users of those lands under the guise of a “hunter harassment” bill.

This week numerous anti-wildlife legislators introduced and “sponsored” a bill that would criminalize photographing, videotaping, and even being “in the proximity” of hounders, baiters, trappers, and other people harassing and killing our wildlife on OUR public lands. This is not hyperbole or an exaggeration. The WBHA and their legislative allies are waging an all out war on OUR free speech rights and the rights of non-hunters to use OUR public lands. This is the text of a bill, SB338, that will criminalize photography, videotaping, and free navigation of OUR PUBLIC LANDS to protect the unethical practices of hounding, trapping, and baiting:

This bill makes changes to the laws prohibiting certain activities that interfere with hunting, fishing, and trapping.

Current law prohibits a person from engaging in certain intentional conduct that interferes with lawful hunting, fishing, or trapping. The conduct prohibited under current law (prohibited conduct) includes harassing a wild animal, impeding or obstructing a person who is engaged in lawful hunting, fishing, or trapping, or impeding a person who is engaged in an activity associated with lawful hunting, fishing, or trapping. Current law generally defines an activity associated with lawful hunting, fishing, or trapping, as travel, camping, or other acts that are preparatory to lawful hunting, fishing, or trapping. This bill expands this definition so that it also includes scouting, target shooting, dog training, and animal baiting or feeding.The bill also expands the prohibitions in current law so that a person may not interfere or attempt to interfere with an activity associated with lawful hunting, fishing, or trapping by engaging in prohibited conduct. The bill also expands the types of conduct prohibited to include disturbing a lawfully placed hunting stand, disturbing lawfully placed bait or other feed, using a drone under certain circumstances, and engaging in a series of acts (serial conduct) that are intended to impede or obstruct a person engaged in lawful hunting, fishing, or trapping or an activity associated with lawful hunting, fishing, or trapping. The types of serial conduct prohibited include maintaining a visual or physical proximity to the person, approaching or confronting the person, or photographing the person.

Want to take you dog for a walk on OUR PUBLIC LANDS? If it pisses off a hounder, trapper, or baiter YOU are committing a criminal act. Want to take a picture or video of wildlife on OUR PUBLIC LANDS? If it “bothers” or you are “in proximity” to a hounder, trappers, or baiter YOU are committing “harassment” and a “criminal act.” If YOU are in the woods and videotape illegal behavior by hounders, trappers, and baiters YOU are “harassing” them under this bill and YOU are the criminal. If YOU happen to just watch a hounder or baiter YOU can be considered a criminal under this bill.

What is even more disturbing than this blatant attack on the First Amendment rights of our citizens is the fact that hounders and baiters in Wisconsin have ZERO oversight and do not need any type of permit to practice their activities. In 2014 baiters “reported” depositing 4,639,707 GALLONS of bear bait (stale junk food like doughnuts) all over our PUBLIC lands ( via Wisconsin DNR email). This is just what was “reported” by those with bear killing licenses and doesn’t take into account the baiting done by those with no kill license. Baiters are allegedly “only” allowed to dump “no more” than 10 gallons of bait at any one site “per visit.” Just take those numbers into account before your jaw hits the floor. IF the rules were followed this would mean that there were 82,340 “reported” bear baiting sites on OUR public lands in Wisconsin according to the Wisconsin DNR. Those are just the “reported” ones. Add in the thousands of hounds being allowed to terrorize wildlife under the guise of “training” each year, again with no licensing requirement, and you can see why the hounders/baiters don’t want anyone to see what they really do in OUR woods. It’s not enough that they already harass, bully, and intimidate other users of public land, they want it all to themselves and even want to make criminals of those with a differing ideology that are also using PUBLIC lands or are reporting and documenting the violations that the Wisconsin DNR refuses to enforce.

These are the sponsors of this blatant attack on free speech and WBHA takeover of OUR public lands. The names are all familiar but for some strange reason a Democrat, Chris Sinicki, is also shown as a co-sponsor of this bill. Wildlife advocates have contacted Rep. Sinicki and she made it very clear that she has NOTHING to do with this bill and would NEVER support such a thing. It is absolutely shameful that the people behind this bill reported Rep. Sinicki as being in support of this bill.

It’s no shock that WBHA and NRA member, Adam Jarchow, is leading the charge here and that convicted wildlife violator, Joel Kleefish, also signed on. Please contact each of the legislators behind this blatant attack on free speech and those with differing ideology along with your own and demand that they dos any and all support for this.

Click on the names of the above legislators to be directed to their websites and contact information.

Go to the below page and put your address into the “Find My Legislators” area to contact them and ask that they DO NOT support this blatant attack on free speech, WBHA takeover of OUR public lands, and the criminalization of having differing ideologies.

As I stated yesterday there is a coordinated effort to provide cover for any and all “hunting” activities in this state no matter how deplorable or unethical. These proposals should come as no surprise to anyone that has witnessed the gutting and selling off of anything deemed “progressive” or “liberal” since 2011. Wisconsin has made efforts to criminalize free speech before and has gone out of their way to give those that kill wildlife free reign to take over our public lands. This bill is just another example of what extremist one party rule looks like. What else do these bought and paid for politicians need to do to our rights before they get voted out? The entire country saw real fast what this kind of neo-fascism would look like on the national level and they shut it down in two months. Are we not smart enough in Wisconsin to do the same thing?

As I pointed out last week there is a new extremist killing cartel shill in the legislature to take the place of the disgraced Scott Suder (R-ALEC) as the mouthpiece for the bear hounders. This week the legislative mouthpiece for the extremist killing cartels, Rep. Adam Jarchow (R-WBHA), introduced legislation to criminalize the First Amendment for those that share a different ideology and have the nerve to videotape and report on the myriad of illegal and unethical behaviors perpetrated by bear hounders and baiters on OUR public lands.

Let’s get to the real point behind this bill. The bear hounders/baiters and their mouthpiece, lobbyist Bob Welch, know that the group Wolf Patrol has shone a light onto the depraved and often illegal world of the whole hounding/baiting “culture” so this bill is another legislative attack against those with a differing ideology. One look at the terminology that Jarchow (R-WBHA) uses in his “press release” shows exactly what this is about. It also doesn’t hurt to look at those commenting on his Facebook page and the symbols that they use on their profiles. Here is an example of what is used by at least two of his fans.

This is all about wolves and the desire of the Wisconsin Bear Hunters Association (WBHA) and affiliated groups to eradicate them from our landscape. The calls of “smoke a pack a day” from these people show exactly what the ultimate goal is. While I may have small differences with the Wolf Patrol, they are doing what needs to be done. They are showing blatant illegal behavior perpetrated by hounders, baiters, and trappers while the Wisconsin DNR does NOTHING as usual. Jarchow and his buddies in the hounder/baiter groups don’t like the public seeing what their “sport” is all about and how they flaunt the breaking of laws and defile OUR public lands with their bait and legalized animal fighting.

This bill like so many others in Wisconsin is emblematic of what our state has become since 2010. Freedom of Speech only applies if you agree with the majority party currently in power and if you are a politician/supporter caught breaking the law they will just change the law to make the illegal behavior legal. Then if you are a “watchdog” that catches onto and reports the illegal behavior you will be demonized and the law will be changed just as Jarchow is trying to do here.

Jarchow makes the claim that the thought of a “hunt” being “ruined” by an “extremist group” makes him “sick.” You know what makes me sick? The disingenuous crap put forth by Jarchow and his followers that makes it seem like using PUBLIC lands and exercising our Freedom of Speech rights are something to be made illegal. While Jarchow and his benefactors in the killing cartels love to make inflammatory and untrue accusations they seem to be forgetting that it was the hounders that were harassing, blocking, and following those seeking to document what the hounders and baiters were doing as shown in this video:

The hounders blocking the Wolf Patrol vehicle can even be heard claiming that “they are the law.” This is not an uncommon mindset amount hounders and baiters in Wisconsin. They are pandered to by legislators like Jarchow and are essentially given free reign by the Wisconsin DNR and local law enforcement agencies to do whatever they want. They can dump MILLIONS of gallons of stale junk food as bear bait all over OUR public lands, allow their dogs to run rampant on OUR public lands, and get a $2500 check from the Wisconsin DNR each time one of those free roaming dogs gets killed by a wolf, but it’s wildlife advocates that are “extremists” and doing the “harassing?”

What Rep. Adam Jarchow (R-WBHA) is going here is criminalizing free speech and the free navigation of OUR public lands. He is writing into law that hounders, baiters, and trappers will have free rein to behave as they want on OUR public lands and the “criminal” in the matter are the ones documenting illegal behavior. Remember that most of the hounding and baiting occurs on OUR National Forest land and this smacks of nothing more than a takeover of these lands by the extremist “hunting” elements in our state. It is also another example of trying to criminalize free speech and those that have a differing ideology from the right-wing extremists that currently run our state. Jarchow is a wealthy lawyer and should at least have some understanding of the United States Constitution and American law, but his false premise of a “right to hunt” taking presence over free speech and free passage on OUR public lands is highly disturbing. Not surprising considering the power drunk cabal that he is a part of at the state Capitol, but still disturbing.

Jarchow, in his “press release” makes the claim that hunting is a “family friendly” activity and it is somehow the “job” of government and elected representatives to get kids outside and killing’ instead of staying “indoors watching TV or surfing the internet.” Not coincidentally there are two more disturbing and likely related proposals that have been introduced in the Wisconsin Legislature.

An Act to repeal 29.592 (3); and to amend 29.592 (1) (intro.) of the statutes; relating to: eliminating age requirements for participating in the hunting mentorship program and hunting devices authorized to be used under the hunting mentorship program.

Want to take your infant or toddler out and let them hound, trap, arrow, bait, or shoot wildlife? This proposal would allow that. Is it a coincidence that Jarchow mentioned how horrible it was for youth to watch TV and use the internet when there is all that good killin’ to be done?

The next proposal, also championed by convicted wildlife violator, Rep. Joel Kleefisch, seeks to remove the current decades old requirement that hunters wear backtags for identification and to help prevent trespassing.

Under current law, when the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) issues a person an archer hunting license, a deer hunting license, a bear hunting license, an elk hunting license, a sports license, or a conservation patron license, DNR also issues a back tag to be attached to the person’s outermost garment when that person is hunting as authorized by the license. This bill eliminates the requirement that DNR issue a back tag with any of these licenses and the requirement that the licensee attach a back tag to any garment while hunting.

This proposal should be renamed the 2015 Poaching and Trespassing Protection and Enablement Act. What benefit is there to the general public for the backtag requirement to be removed other than to protect those breaking the law? Just like Jarchow’s attack on the First Amendment it seems that the whole goal is to provide complete cover for those that want to poach, trespass, and otherwise violate the law. What other explanation is there? The answer is easy enough to find by checking to see which “hunter” groups support these proposals.

What do all of these groups have in common? All but the NRA have the same lobbyist. That lobbyist is none other than Bob Welch, he of the windtunnel tested hair and hatred of wolves. The one group listed as in favor of eliminating the age restriction that he lobbies for, “Whitetails of Wisconsin,” is a lobbying group for canned hunting operations in the state. I guess allowing toddlers to shoot and kill hand raised animals behind fences must be good for business.

It’s the same names and same nefarious agendas at play here as those seeking to eradicate our wolf population. In what world does it make sense to criminalize free speech and then work to protect poachers and trespassers from being identified?

Please let Rep. Jarchow know what you think about his attempt to criminalize free speech here:

The ONLY positive to be taken from these proposals is that the hounders/baiters are scared that their sadistic behavior and “culture” of legalized animal fighting and unethical practices are being exposed to the light. Those that participate in and benefit from the killing culture of this state are also in a panic because more and more people are turning away from bloodsports or not participating in them starting in their youth. This means less and less funding for agencies like the Wisconsin DNR that exist solely for the benefit of those that kill, torment, and exploit our “natural resources.” Much like the deplorable “ag-gag” bills across the country Jarchow’s attack on free speech and navigation of OUR public lands will get its day in court. Glass houses……stones………